Dear So and So

[Pax]

Dear friends and colleagues,

Yes, we own a truck. A lovely Nissan four door truck, it is our only vehicle... please stop asking to borrow it!!! If you need to move grandmas dresser rent a Uhaul, it's only $19 a day. How would you feel if I asked to borrow your very nice Lexus for this evening since were going to the symphony and it would be a nicer choice for a dressy occasion??

Signed,

Buy you own!

[kajero]

Dear friends and colleagues,

Yes, we own a truck. A lovely Nissan four door truck, it is our only vehicle... please stop asking to borrow it!!! If you need to move grandmas dresser rent a Uhaul, it's only $19 a day. How would you feel if I asked to borrow your very nice Lexus for this evening since were going to the symphony and it would be a nicer choice for a dressy occasion??

Signed,

Buy you own!

My daughter had that issue. She finally decided to tell them they could, but she would appreciate it they paid the same rental fee as the U-Haul as well as return it with a full tank of gas. (And she always made sure the tank was nearly empty) Funny, she lost "friends" that she never liked anyway and others knew better than to ask.

[OakLeaf]

Pax, you need one of those bumper stickers. You know the one I mean.


Make sure you charge them the full U-Haul rate. That $19 a day does NOT include mileage, and the mileage rate is astronomical. It was like $60-70 just to haul a load of soil amendments and mulch from the Home Depot out to my house. I guess the home improvement stores rent trucks out now, but back then they didn't....

[malkin]

Dear Colleagues:

IRONY. You'd recognize it if you had been paying attention in school.

Speech-language pathologist with laryngitis.

Not humorous.
Not a really funny joke.
Irony.

Maybe it was covered at school on the same day as those pesky apostrophe rules.

Oh well. I took the day off and it is my birthday.

[kajero]

Dear who ever puts the signs on stop lights

I was riding my bike and needed to cross a very busy intersection with no bicycle lanes. It is the only route/intersection that allows me access to where I want to go. How do I do that when you have a sign showing the figure in the red circle with a slash going through it on every stoplight post in the intersection?

A terribly confused bicycle rider who can't cross the street legally!

[Sky King]

the sign says no bike? I am confused. You are a wheeled vehicle, take your lane and cross just like the motored vehicles. I cross a six lane highway everyday. If the light is red I line up behind the car in front of me and cross like a car. If there are several cars waiting, I go to the front and usually stop between the first and second cars - on their right side I say usually because I try to see who has their blinker on to turn right. When the light turns green, proceed - do not hug the side of the road. give yourself plenty of space, the cars can drive a little slower until it is safe to pass you.

Dear who ever puts the signs on stop lights

I was riding my bike and needed to cross a very busy intersection with no bicycle lanes. It is the only route/intersection that allows me access to where I want to go. How do I do that when you have a sign showing the figure in the red circle with a slash going through it on every stoplight post in the intersection?

A terribly confused bicycle rider who can't cross the street legally!

[Eden]

sounds like we need a photo.... I agree with Sky King about how to handle it as a cyclist, but what happens if you are a pedestrian...... we've had situations like that around here, though they are temporary... but come on, close all 4 corners of an intersection for construction at the same time.... the planner for that one must *never* walk anywhere... when my husband complained that he couldn't get to the store to buy his lunch (it was near his work) they put up signs that said "Businesses are Open During Construction"....

[OakLeaf]

Sky King is right about how to ride through an intersection ... you're a vehicle just like any other.

As far as pedestrians - I've never seen a sign like that at an intersection where the other side didn't have pedestrian facilities. So you just cross at the other side.

Now, I know plenty of roads and city streets that have no pedestrian facilities at all, and I just yesterday had to deal with some construction like Eden is talking about. But they don't have signs forbidding pedestrians to cross at both sides. Where there are no pedestrian facilities at all is almost easier - you wear your scrubby jeans and your hiking boots and expect to walk in the ditches, climb the banks, etc., but when there *is* a sidewalk but it's closed, typically you have no choice but the road, which can be super busy with no shoulder.

[kajero]

sounds like we need a photo.... I agree with Sky King about how to handle it as a cyclist, but what happens if you are a pedestrian...... we've had situations like that around here, though they are temporary... but come on, close all 4 corners of an intersection for construction at the same time.... the planner for that one must *never* walk anywhere... when my husband complained that he couldn't get to the store to buy his lunch (it was near his work) they put up signs that said "Businesses are Open During Construction"....

I just finished working on the map (I would have to ride 47 miles to get a photo.). Click on jpg to enlarge. Maybe I will drive out there. The drive is much shorter because I don't ride on the trails.



The green line on Post Road is a trail out of Fort Snelling State Park. The trail picks up on the other side of the intersection.
The lanes going across the freeway are very, very busy. Post Road is another way to get to the airport.
There are no shoulders and the traffic lanes are extremely narrow. There is very little area between the stop signs and the stop lights.

I think this is a dangerous intersection so I really need to be aware of everything! I wonder how many drivers are aware of bicyclists because of the signs.

And then surprise, surprise. The same thing is at the entrance of the cemetery. There is no way to get from the bike lane into the cemetery. I didn't see much other way than to disobey the signs. There is a lot of construction so I hope it is only temporary.